What Doesn't Kill us Makes us Stronger
by Band Gleek
Summary: Speech team seemed almost inevitability to Rachel. There, her talents reigned just as they did in glee club, however, the speech coach, not as afraid of Rachel as Mr. Shue was, wanted to get Rachel out of her comfort zone in the form of an HDA event.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my cliché little plotline. If I owned Glee, Puck would be secretly in love with Kurt and Chris Colfer would be my bff.

A/N: I've been reading Glee fanfiction practically religiously for the past few months to get me through the Glee hiatus, but this is only my second attempt at writing my own story. Tell me if you think I should keep writing or just stick to reading, and if you have any other tips or constructive criticism for me, that'd be awesome.

**What Doesn't Kill us Makes us Stronger**

**Chapter 1**

In attempt to be the most involved student at William McKinley High school, Rachel Berry had decided to join to speech team. It was a wonder how it never occurred to her to join before, considering how much she loved to talk. She knew that she was a born speaker and actress, as well as a singer and dancer.

"That's what showbiz calls a 'triple threat'," she explained to her _entire_ team upon announcing her participation in this activity.

Rachel would have loved to do an original oratory, creating a riveting monologue about the undeniable need for more funding for the arts, or even a dramatic interpretation. She was fabulous when it came to putting intense emotion into _anything._ However, their speech team coach placed her in the one category she would have rather sacrificed solos in glee club for a month than be assigned to.

"Rachel, I've chosen you to do an HDA piece this year. I'll get you your materials and partner at the next meeting." Mrs. Gillies said very matter-of-factly and then immediately looked back toward her computer idly, obviously expecting Rachel to protest.

Rachel stood mildly shocked for a moment but then pressed on with her well justified argument in her best persuasive speech tone.

"With all due respect, Mrs. Gillies, but I think my talents would be better utilized in a…"

Mrs. Gillies cut her off. "Rachel, honey, we _all_ know your talents. None of us doubt that you would do a wonderful informative speech," Rachel couldn't help but smile at this, "but I want to get you a bit more outside your comfort zone. Expand your horizons." She smiled weakly, hoping Rachel would understand her good intentions.

Rachel's first instinct was to rebut each of her coach's points, but she knew that she didn't have the authority on speech team that she did in Glee, and that if there was ever a chance of her getting an event she wanted in the future, she didn't want on Mrs. Gillies' bad side.

But HDA? Did Mrs. G hate her? In humorous duet acting, not only would she have to try to be funny, something highly over-rated as dramatic acting was so much more respectable, but she also had to work with someone else on _her_ piece! It's not that she wasn't a team player, but part of the reason she joined speech was because in her own event, she would have all the creative control and only herself to rely on, just the way she liked it. Now, however, she was not only going to be forced to pair with someone who would never be able to keep up with her impeccable acting talents, but also trying to contribute inevitably inferior ideas about their technique. She already has to tolerate enough incompetence during glee club and now speech team? All she could do was sigh. No one ever said it was easy being the best.

"…I suppose it would assist my versatility as an actress, as I already excel in all the other aspects of speaking and…"

"That's a great way to look at it!" Mrs. G said smiling, obviously happy she wouldn't have to deal with an unhappy rambling Rachel longer than she already had to.

"You'll receive more information tomorrow."

* * *

Rachel had been dreading her impending doom in the form of the HDA partner she would be assigned to at the end of the day. At this point she simply hoped they wouldn't be entirely inadequate and would be able to take criticism well, of course of the constructive variety.

She flounced into a practice room immediately after school, ready with suggestions as to who might be an appropriate choice for her partner when she saw Artie talking to Mrs. Gillies. She assumed that she had just been his last block teacher and was staying after to finish some sort of quiz or project when she caught Mrs. G's attention. The coach acknowledged Rachel's presence then looked back at Artie and smiled almost sympathetically.

"Artie, I don't know if you know Rachel Berry, but she'll be your HDA partner this season."

Artie's face flashed a quick look that was a mix between fear and disappointment, with a slight hint of amusement and anticipation. He then smiled his adorkable smile and greeted his glee club captain.

"Oh, Hi, Rachel. You didn't strike me as an HDA type."

"Oh, I'm not, but I'm trying to expand my horizons as to make myself an even more valuable actress. You didn't strike me as someone interested in speech team. You always seemed pretty content with your jazz band buddies and AV geeks."

Artie, not quite sure whether to be offended by that statement, simply responded honestly, leaving out the part where he requested HDA because he thought that was the event least likely to have Rachel Berry in it, as her speech team reputation was even more infamous than her glee club rep.

"Well, it's always nice to try new things. I joined to spend more time with Tina. Ever since she confessed to never really having a stutter and then realizing how nice and accepting people can be, she wanted to join more clubs. I figured the two hour bus rides to and from competitions would be great bonding time. We rarely get to see each other outside of school and glee. She has really strict parents."

"Oh, I see, well as you should know, speech team is a very serious commitment requiring lots of dedication and hard work and spending time with Tina should be the least of your speech team priorities. That being said, let's get to work."

Artie sighed to himself, obviously seeing this coming, and hoped that speech team would be just a fraction of the fun that he thought it was going to be approximately ten minutes ago.

A/N: If you've made it this far thanks for reading. I'd love any suggestions and I'm not quite sure whether to go in a romance direction with this or just friendship. Any opinions?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my cliché little plotline. Also, there's a reference to an actual HDA but I have no idea who wrote it what it's even called. Someone performed it in my school but I don't remember anything about it except the basic plot. Just so y'all know I'm not trying to take credit for it. Hence: disclaimer. Wow, I ramble a lot. Right, story:

**What Doesn't Kill us Makes us Stronger**

**Chapter 2**

Since they had just received the piece they would be performing, they each sat quietly in a practice room reading over their script. Artie went over it thoroughly literally laughing out loud at a few parts. With a piece like this, maybe speech could be fun after all. Wanting to see Rachel's reaction, he looked over at her and saw nothing but a scowl on her face and no sign of entertainment what so ever. He knew he was going to regret it, but he needed to know what Rachel's deal was when the piece they were assigned was really funnier than about 90% of the band geek jokes he had read online.

"What's wrong Rachel?"

Rachel met Artie's eyes. She displayed a look of terror and desperation that made him want to laugh, considering the circumstances.

"This piece! It's awful! I refuse to play a character who throws her husband's cats _out the window! _ First of all, it's absurd that anyone would injure a cute little kitty cat and second, I don't want to be the bad guy!"

Artie simply sighed. You'd think that if her two dads could afford to send her to so many performing arts classes as a child, then she surely should have developed _some _sense of humor.

"It's just a skit Rachel. It's supposed to be for entertainment purposes. You don't actually have to throw a cat out of the window. Plus, to everyone else, it's going to be hysterical. Isn't the point to please the judges? If we act this well, the judges will eat it up. It's unique. That's what they're looking for, right? Plus, there's no way we can receive a new skit. Mrs. Gillies says all of her selections are non-negotiable."

"I'm Rachel Berry, and I happen to know that in the real world _everything _is negotiable," Rachel said with a huff and then proceeded to storm out of the door before Artie adamantly blocked her exit. He was so done with this. It was bad enough that he had to deal with Rachel in glee, but here too? Artie took a deep breathe as he began his lecture he'd been dying to give Ms. Know-it-all Berry for as long as he could remember.

"Listen Rachel, I don't want to work with you anymore than you want to work with me. You may be talented, but no one can ever appreciate it because you're always criticizing something. It's unfair to everyone around you and I don't want to put up with it. I happen to really like this skit, so you're _not _going to bother about it, you're going to _stop_ being a negative Nancy and only pointing out the bad in everything, and we are going to run all the way through our piece _without _you telling me what to do. Understand?"

Artie breathed heavily, suddenly feeling much better, as Rachel was momentarily subdued, taking in everything Artie had said. No one had ever really stood up to her like that before, at least no one that mattered. Truly she respected Artie's opinion. She forced a smile and responded with her usual tone of superiority.

"Wow Artie, you really are a passionate speaker. You've got a very clear and articulate voice, but I'm sure that if you…"

Artie raised his eyebrows just daring her to finish that statement.

"I mean, our skit's going to be great." Rachel was only half sure of this, but the comment made Artie smile.

"Much better. So, you have the first line. Whenever you're ready."

They simply read through the skit a few times. Rachel refrained from critiquing Artie's obviously imperfect performance, but today, she wasn't at her best either. She figured they both had time to improve, so she kept her mouth shut for now.

They were packing up their things, neither of them thrilled with how rehearsal went, though neither miserable, when Rachel couldn't help but blurt the one thing that's on her mind whenever she talks to anyone besides her dads and formerly, Jesse.

"You hate me, don't you?"

Artie looked up at Rachel in surprise, not expecting to actually have a conversation with her about something not related to their speech. However, when he looked up, Rachel Berry was nearly unrecognizable. She had lost her confident façade and had taken a defensive stance. Sheer hurt and desperation filled her eyes. She reminded Artie vaguely of those commercials on TV with all of the sad animals asking you to save them.

"Rachel, I don't hate you. My outburst wasn't out of spite, simply frustration and I…"

Rachel cut him off. "No, it's ok. Everyone hates me. You don't have to lie. I do appreciate you trying to make me feel better." Rachel attempted a half smile, but couldn't look Artie in the eyes.

What Artie said about not hating her wasn't entirely untrue. Although, he _would_ be lying if he said he particularly cared for the girl. However, at this point in time, he truly felt sorry for her. Upon instinct, Artie wheeled himself over to where Rachel was sitting, playing with her phone and, from what he could tell, holding back tears.

"Rachel, _no one_ hates you. Sure, you may come on a little strong sometimes, but we all admire your talent."

Rachel met Artie's eyes, which looked genuinely sincere, but couldn't contain the initial scoff at this statement. Artie was taken aback by Rachel's reaction to his attempt at comforting and a compliment all in one but simply replied with a gentle, "What?"

Rachel looked up, tears obvious in her eyes, and then looked back at Artie.

"You admire my talent? I get enough admiration. I don't want anymore admiration, or compliments, or applause for that matter! I want friends. I want people to like me! I just…I don't understand…" Her voice was filled with sadness and a hint of scorn.

Artie was mildly shocked at hearing that Rachel Berry didn't want anymore applause, but that was the last thing on his mind. As the sincerity in her words began to sink in, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt. Sure, Rachel hadn't been an angel to him, but she surely hadn't attacked anyone personally, except with a bit of criticism. Her annoyingness and critique was limited to people's performances, never to their actual personality. As he realized this, he also realized that no one had ever really tried to be nice to her or befriend her, Finn Hudson and Jesse St. James didn't count because they seemed to have ulterior motives, and she definitely didn't have any girl friends.

Now Artie was the one who couldn't make eye contact.

"What don't you understand?"

Slightly shocked that Artie had even bothered to ask, she took this as her opportunity to get out all of her bent up emotions, standing up to give her spiel, all the while shouting at no one imparticular.

"I don't understand why not one likes me! I'm the _best _one out there! I work the hardest! I care about this club more _and_ the people in it than anyone can understand but no one gives a damn about me! You guys wouldn't even keep me around if it weren't for my talent. No one gets that everything I say, I say in their best interest! I _try _to be nice and social and caring, but no one ever notices. The only time anyone ever notices me is when they're yelling at me for criticizing them! People may think I'm an over-achiever, but _no one_ has _ever_ looked deep enough to figure out that it's not over-achieving when you simply love what you're doing so much that you just can't stop and that when you have no friends, you have a _lot _of time on your hands. Instead, they think they can judge me! Tell me who I am and make assumptions. No one _gets _it! I may be overly critical when it comes to the performing arts, but I have _never_ judged people's character like people have done to me!"

At this final statement, releasing everything she had been harboring, she collapsed in sobs on Artie's lap. Artie didn't even notice some of the conceitedness in her statements, all he could do was hug her and try to console her, a stunned look on his face as he took in everything she said and realized that, for the most part, it was all true.


End file.
